Tenacious technophobes or nascent technophiles? A survey of the technological practices and needs of literary translators

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn a context of increasing investigation of technology use by translators of pragmatic texts, there appears to be an assumption that literary translation is a unique practice and that digital tools designed to improve the productivity of non-literary translators have few applications in the literary domain. The present study seeks to challenge that assumption and find out what tools and resources literary translators actually employ in practice; how they interact with source and target texts, manage terminology, and conduct linguistic research; and what their needs may be for training in this area. Members of the Literary Translators’ Association of Canada were invited to complete an anonymous self-administered online questionnaire on their use of technology and digital resources. Results indicate that literary translators make extensive use of standard tools and electronic resources but little use of more specialized technology. However, it was also found that some respondents make ‘creative’ use of specialized technology and that literary translators have a broad range of needs, particularly for linguistic and cultural research, leading to a recommendation that future investigation in this area focus on the improvement of digital tools and resources to support literary translators in meeting their ad hoc needs.